Bulldog found safe after owner's car stolen

UPDATE: Tazzie has been found safe. The bulldog was located on Westmoor Drive on Tuesday afternoon. She is said to be okay.

Previous story:

ATLANTA -- The good news is that Michael Buckley got his car back after it was stolen. But the car doesn't mean much to him; he would rather have his pet dog Tazzie back.

Buckley never planned to stop in Atlanta on his way from Charleston, S.C. to Colorado last Thursday. He had no choice. He had car trouble. While driving through Atlanta on I-20 he got a flat tire and pulled off to get it fixed and get a hotel room for the night.

Buckley said he stopped near the intersection of Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive and Joseph Lowery Boulevard to ask three teens for directions back to the Interstate to go to his hotel. When he went to the back of his Ford Explorer to check on Tazzie, an English Bulldog, two of the teens jumped into his car a drove off.

"I couldn't believe it was happening," Buckley said. "I chased after it, I tripped and fell. I must have looked like a fool but all I could think about was my dog."

The next day Atlanta Police found his stolen car parked on a wooded trail behind Washington Park. Tazzie was nowhere to be found.

Tazzie, an English Bulldog, was inside her owner's car when it was stolen. (Photo: 11Alive)

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"The dog is all that mattered to me and that's all I want back now," Buckley said. "I'll give them my car to get the dog back. I just want my puppy back. I love that thing."

Buckley picked up his vehicle at the towing company Atlanta Police had it towed to on Monday. "I'm missing some sneakers, I had some shoes and clothing in the back they had taken, my cell phone is gone, chargers were gone," he said.

He says none of that matters, they can keep it but there's one thing he wants back more than anything, his best friend of five years. For now it has delayed his plans to move to Colorado because the friend he was moving there with, is missing. "You know I don't really want to leave Atlanta until I've exhausted every option finding this dog so I'm here a couple more days at least, hoping she turns up," he said.

Because Buckley's cell phone was stolen he is asking anyone who might see Tazzie to call his mother, who lives in Washington, DC at 202-494-8480. He also notified Fulton County Animal Control so anyone who sees Tazzie can notify them.